Does the color of food affect sales? Let's start with two examples.
The first example.
Have you noticed the difference between the left and right sides of the above picture?
Yes, the color of the grain on the left and right is different.
On the left of the image above is the original recipe of Trix grain, and on the right is the Trix grain using the new recipe. Compared to the original recipe, the new recipe lacks blue and green, and the red color looks darker.
Trix is a colorful cereal product for children under the Umbrella Mills of the United States, the iconic 6 colors and the cartoon image of the silly rabbit, which can be said to be the childhood memories of many Americans. But in pursuit of healthy trends in whole foods, in 2015, General Mills USA pledged to remove artificial colors from its grain products, including the children's grain food Trix. Trix swapped the artificial colors in the products with natural colors, resulting in the two contrasts that occurred in the above picture.
But after the product was launched, the feedback from consumers was: "Trix has become different, you can't ruin my childhood favorite grain, get the original Trix back." "Trix's new colors are really bad!" It was so ugly that I didn't want to eat it at all. Complaints from consumers have been pouring in, and the messages have even flooded the company's phone calls, emails and social media.
Although sales increased by 6% at the beginning of the 16th year of the new product, in the subsequent 2017, the company's overall grain sales fell by 7% compared to the same period, while sales soared at the time of the surge in sales of another grain, Lucky Charms, which was not so healthy.
In the end, Trix decided to launch 2 products at the same time, keeping the natural color formula product and restoring the original formula of Classic Trix to retain its iconic color.
Let's look at another familiar brand.
Zhizhi peach can be said to be the classic product of Heytea, according to the data of Heytea Go in 2019, Zhizhi Peach peach is the top three products of Heytea sales. The seductive peach fragrance and pink peach color not only can be beaten in taste, but also the "yield rate" is also very high, and people look forward to its return every summer.
The tea behind this classic drink also pays attention to the color. According to Xicha, in terms of color alone, Zhizhi peach has been adjusted several times: in 2017, Xicha first launched Zhizhi peach, using 3 different kinds of peaches to take juice, flesh and color. In 2018, Zhizhi peach upgraded and returned, in response to the problem of oxidation and discoloration of finished products, Heytea was solved by dragon fruit pink coloring, and the addition of dragon fruit also made the product color more pleasing than before.
In addition to the needs of the product itself, food color has also become a marketing point. For example, Oreo, from the red cookies jointly named with Supreme to the recently launched festive citrus lychee red cookies in China, as well as the marketing campaign launched abroad to support the LGBT community through rainbow colors, different food colors have also played a new meaning here in Oreo.
Nowadays, food is increasingly appearing in social media, and although social media cannot share aromas and tastes, color has become a medium of transmission, or affecting consumers' taste expectations, or creating a specific atmosphere, and even influencing consumers' purchase decisions.
In this issue, we will talk to you about the story behind the color of food. What are the industry trends in food coloring? What does color do to food? What do I need to consider when applying pigments?
01 The "behind-the-scenes worker" of bright and colorful food - coloring substances
In addition to the color from the ingredients themselves, in order to make up for the loss of color in food processing, so that the food color looks more attractive, bright and colorful foods often add coloring substances, which are currently mainly divided into three categories, synthetic pigments, natural pigments and colorful foods.
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >1, artificial pigments</h1>
Synthetic pigments often have the characteristics of strong coloring power and bright colors, and are relatively less costly. However, as a chemical synthetic substance, there is still uncertainty about the application of synthetic pigments.
In 2007, the results of the university of Southampton in the United Kingdom attracted attention to 6 artificial pigments (lemon yellow, quinoline yellow, sunset yellow, temptation red, spring red 4R, light red), and the results showed that edible artificial colors were associated with hyperactivity and inattention in children, and the results were published in the medical journal Lancet. [3] However, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) also noted that the study had certain limitations, including small sample size, lack of consistency, etc., and that the pigment mixture in the trial could not directly prove the health effects of a single pigment and was not enough to justify the modified Daily Intake (ADI), but the EFSA also lowered the intake of sunset yellow and sunset yellow in a follow-up safety assessment that comprehensively considered children's intake. ADI of Quinoline Yellow and Lison Red 4R.
In China, the Sudanese Red Duck egg pigment violations still make people feel uneasy, and consumers also maintain vigilance against artificial pigments. But Sudan red is actually an industrial pigment, not an food color, and it is illegal to add it to food itself. Although food experts say that artificial pigments under national standards are safe to use within the prescribed range and limits, the gradual increase in consumers' health needs such as natural sources and additive-free, as well as the fear of the potential harm of synthetic compounds, have also led to more and more applications of natural pigments.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >2, natural pigments</h1>
Natural pigments mainly refer to pigments extracted from animals, plants and microorganisms (cultures). According to market research firm Meticulous Research, the natural color market is expected to reach $3.2 billion by 2027, with a COMPOUND ANNUAL growth rate of 8.4% over the forecast period from 2019 to 2027.
Since 2015, there has been a wave of natural pigments to replace artificial pigments, Mars, General Mill, Nestlé and other companies have said that they will gradually use natural pigments. Mars said in February 2016 that it would replace all artificial colors within the next five years.
Mars said in February 2016 that it would replace all artificial colors within the next five years.
Image source: Mars official website
We have noticed that in confectionery products such as Mars, some artificial pigments have also been "quietly" replaced with natural pigments, such as phyco blue, gardenia yellow and other colors.
However, there are still some challenges in the process of applying natural colors, especially in the case of the original product color formulation update, such as the aforementioned Trix, which cannot restore the color. In addition, the stability of natural pigments in different environments such as light, temperature, and PH is still an important factor limiting application, and it still needs continuous research and improvement. For example, turmeric is easy to degrade when it meets light, according to Chr. Hansen, turmeric is now also protected and added to food by embedding, so that the product can also be stored in a transparent package.
Brands may also receive questions from vegetarians when applying natural colors such as cochineal (carmine is derived from animals). A Danish biotechnology company, Chromologics, has developed a sustainable fermentation technology to produce food colorings and claims to be a promising replacement for natural red food coloring such as carmine and betaine, reducing costs while providing better stability.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >3, rich color food</h1>
The concept of coloring food (coloring food) was introduced from Europe, and color-rich food refers to "one or more natural colored food raw materials, such as fruits, vegetables and other plants and algae, processed by physical methods, with or without adding water, sugar, edible oil and other excipients, concentrated or not concentrated liquid or solid food ingredients." ”
On June 30, 2017, the China Food Industry Association officially released the group standard of "Rich ColorEd Food for The Food Industry" (standard number: T00/CNFIA 101-2017), and in September last year, it also launched the formulation of industry standards for domestic rich color food ingredients. At present, fuse food is a kind of food raw material, which does not appear in the form of food additives in the ingredient list.
There are also applications of rich color food in China, for example, in Wang Laoji's "Zhiyun" hawthorn tangerine peel drink, rich color food is added. In addition, some colorful foods also contain some active substances, such as turmeric and phycocyanin. Some trials have shown that turmeric may help reduce inflammation to some extent and relieve symptoms of osteoarthritis, and turmeric is also considered to be antioxidant.
02 Food color can help your food business
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >1, increase appetite</h1>
The bright red blood orange juice looks like it has a desire to open it and taste it. The "red hot" hot pot base is also often added to the capsaicin toning, which is more visually attractive, stimulating the appetite and reminiscent of spicy coolness.
Recently, Pantone released the 2021 annual popular colors "gray" and "yellow", Sen xin listed orange as the best color of the year in 2021, and GNT, a rich food ingredient, predicted red as the popular color in 2021. They all invariably take the bright warm color as the color trend in 2021, and use this warm color to stimulate consumers' appetite and purchase desire, convey a positive state of life and vitality, and sweep away the haze brought by the epidemic.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >2, restore color</h1>
The mention of restorative color reminds one of the plant flesh that is now on the vent. How to make the color of plant meat more like meat, the addition of red coloring substances is essential, we have noticed that many plant beef and plant pork are restored by using beet red, such as different kinds of meat guest Beyond Meat, OmniPork New Meat, HeyMaet, etc. have used beet red, and the low-fat vegetarian intestines of Qishan Food also use beet powder.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >3, creating sensory associations</h1>
In foods where blue is added, we also found that blue is associated with sea salt and sea elements, such as KFC's Okinawa sea salt ice cream and Nestlé eight-power sea salt lemon flavored ice cream. The pale blue color also gives a sense of coolness.
Color may also be associated with taste. At the FBIF2019 Food and Beverage Innovation Forum, Imod Farhat, vice president of Firmenich's Global Taste Innovation Platform, shared the findings of a scientist, Massimiliano Zampini, who found that consumers tend to associate red with sweetness because red foods such as strawberries and watermelons are often sweet. He also said that moderately reducing the sweetness of a drink while changing it to red packaging makes it difficult for consumers to taste the difference.
In addition, food colors also play a different role in marketing. In recent years, some unexpected unpopular colors have also become a marketing tool for food.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" >4, fashion trendsetters</h1>
In recent years, blue has also become a fashion color (in 2020, Pantone listed classic blue as a popular color), such as Pepsi Cola, Fanta has launched blue drinks (with the addition of pigment bright blue), Zhong Xuegao has launched "lazy addictive" blue ice cream (added edgella), and Wagas's blue Smoxy (added phyco blue).
In August last year, Ramen Said and the National Gallery of Art IP created "Art Ramen", which includes a tomato beef sauce mixed noodle product, which is based on Gauguin's work "Vase", and the black noodles use cuttlefish juice from natural sources.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >5, food color has a specific meaning</h1>
In different regions, specific food colors will also have special marketing significance. In China, for example, red represents festivities. Oreo's recent red cookies are very much in line with the atmosphere of the Spring Festival. In Thailand, for example, red water is used for sacrificial prayers.
Thailand is Fanta's fourth-largest market in the world, surpassing the United States and China, arguably largely thanks to its red strawberry Fanta Strawberry. In China, most people have the impression that Fanta is still mainly orange, but Thailand is red Fanta is popular, there is a saying that a custom in Thailand is to offer sweet red water in the shrine to the gods to pray and make a wish, and there is also a saying that red water is used to offer "little ghosts" (ancient mantong) to protect themselves. And Thailand's Fanta also takes advantage of this red.
It is also possible to convey the concept of the product through the color of the food. Gik Blue, a Spanish wine company, has also launched a fashion-conscious blue alcoholic beverage that conveys a dynamic, innovative and infinite meaning. According to the official introduction, this blue color is extracted from the anthocyanins in the grape skin, and then obtained through wine pigmentation technology, developed by GIK LIVE R&D TEAM in cooperation with the University of the Basque Country and the food technology institutions of Spain and the French Basque Country.
Last Mid-Autumn Festival, creative agency Karma last year launched its own black mooncake with its own slogan of "Hey Yo Hey", wrapped in cream under the black mooncake shell, which also means "No matter how dark life looks, hey yo hey, the bright moon in your heart will always light up." ”
Near the festival, food color has also become a festive atmosphere. For example, in the past Halloween, food companies rushed to launch Halloween limited related products, Fanta launched the banana chocolate flavored soda black magic key (according to the ingredient list information, the pigment uses caramel color, bright blue and temptation red). The orange of the Fanta bottle cap and the black of the soda just make up the traditional colors of Halloween, creating a festive atmosphere through the colors.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >6, added hobby</h1>
Japan Marutai has launched a blue noodle soup, the blue is derived from phyco blue, although it does not seem to be appetizing, but it has a sense of curiosity different from the conventional perception of blue noodle soup. According to the official introduction, when developing products, we hope that products will not only be delicious but also add some "fun".
Danone's brand Activia launched a "carbon black yogurt" in Ukraine, which attracted wide attention in a way that subverted the conventional "snow white" yogurt cognition, and became a regular social media photo taker.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > the following lists the available coloring substances for the colors mentioned above (see GB2760-2014 standard). </h1>
1. Red correlation
Artificial colors: erythrosite, temptation red, acid red, new red and aluminum lake.
Natural colors: beet red, tomato red, lycopene, blackcurrant red, red beige red, red yeast red, peanut red, pepper red, radish red, rose solanum red, grape skin red, blue ingot fruit red, comfrey red, sorghum red, black bean red, sunflower red, carmine red, etc.
2, blue related
Artificial colors: bright blue, indigo, etc.
Natural colors: phycosais, gardenia blue, etc.
Yellow and red in nature are easier to find, but naturally occurring blue is much less. At present, according to the standard in GB2760-2014, phyco blue can be applied to frozen drinks, candy, fruit and vegetable juices, flavored drinks and jelly. Gardenia blue is more resistant to high temperatures than phycosebrous, and has a wider range of applications, and can also be used in baked goods (but discoloration occurs at too high temperatures), but gardenia blue is not very bright in color, and is also used to modulate green and purple.
3, black related
Natural color: vegetable carbon black, etc.
In addition, black can also be obtained by mixing red, yellow and blue colors.
Vegetable carbon black can be used in frozen drinks, pastries, biscuits and other categories, and in May 2020 its application scope was expanded to compound seasonings and puffed foods. In addition, cuttlefish juice is a rich food raw material, and in an interview with Zhitiqiao, Zhongda Hengyuan also mentioned that the new type of black food gradually replaces vegetable charcoal black with cuttlefish juice [5].
Food coloring and colorful food raw material suppliers: Senxin, Chr. Hansen, GNT, ADM, DSM, Döhler, DD Williamson, Naturex, Aromata, Kalsec, FMC, BASF, Lycored, Chenguang Biological, Henan Zhongda Hengyuan, Binmei Biological, Lanyi Biology, Shanghai Dye Research Institute, etc.
03 If you want to think carefully about the color of food, you still have to think clearly
Returning to the example of Trix grains at the beginning of the article, as the Wall Street Journal commented, "Consumers say they need cold-pressed beet juice and quinoa potato chips, but that doesn't mean they don't want to tempt artificial colors such as red and bright blue." "Consumers accustomed to products with bright colors are obviously hard to accept for such a huge contrast, even if brands are out of satisfaction with their expectations of natural foods."
Not used in the General Mill, in 2015 Kraft Heinz quietly replaced the yellow color of its spaghetti Macaroni Cheese and replaced artificial colors with natural colors such as annatto and turmeric, which consumers did not find. It wasn't until 1 year later that Kraft Heinz officially announced the recipe change and aired the "We invited you to try it, but you've already tried it" ad. [8]
The head of Kraft Heinz Foods also mentioned about this pigment replacement that "for consumers, we cannot have any compromises in the taste and appearance of the product." There is no color difference after the formula is replaced, which is also an important reason why Kraft dared to try so boldly.
Christiane Lippert, head of marketing at tomato ingredient supplier Lycored, also mentioned in a previous interview with Food Ingredients First that "it's crucial to maintain bright and vibrant colors that keep 'good tasting' even when there is less sugar or sweetener." ”
This may give us a little inspiration when adjusting the recipe to change color:
1. No matter what kind of raw materials are applied, the color rendering effect of food color needs to be consistent with the previous one as much as possible.
For products that consumers are familiar with, sudden changes in food color are often difficult for consumers to accept. Food color changes need to be adjusted more carefully. The development of natural colors and color-rich foods also needs to adapt to more application scenarios such as different product categories, providing more color schemes and improving stability.
2) The needs expressed by consumers do not necessarily represent all their expectations, and expectations may have different priorities.
For example, in the Trix case, where consumers are more sensitive to the original color than to artificial colors, it may not be wise to use natural formulations at the expense of color in this case. When making decisions, consumer research should also be used to understand whether the color change is acceptable to the target consumer of the product or really needs it most.
3. When informing consumers of color change formula adjustment, in fact, it can also create a new consumer communication point in different ways.
For example, like Heinz, in the case of ensuring that the color of the product has not changed significantly, tell everyone that our product has changed, but the formula is more natural, so that consumers can perceive this positive change.
In addition, from the color here we can also see the new inspiration for product development, whether it is a more attractive appearance, or a new marketing theme brought by color, such as combining the holiday theme color of Halloween and spring festival, combining the scene association brought by color such as the seaside, or the contrast and fun brought by color. At the same time, the use of new colors also requires a holistic marketing plan to match the transmission concept, rather than just limited to product development.
In short, the choice and application of food color is also the result of a multi-dimensional comprehensive evaluation, from whether it is in line with the product concept, product positioning, to the color rendering effect, processing effect, flavor effect, transportation and packaging and other external influences related to the product formula, and then to how to communicate with consumers, it is worth thinking about systematically.
An interaction, what factors do you think can also affect sales?
If you want to make a new beverage, you need to fully consider the market positioning, consumer segmentation, mainstream consumption scenarios, and circulation channels
Road planning, price system design, core selling point refining, product image creation, differentiated product research and development and intellectual property protection and other content, so that you can create a good explosive product in an all-round way and achieve good market sales. According to the author's understanding, Chengdu Jiawei Tiancheng Beverage Technology Research Institute can provide such a professional one-stop service, and serve many well-known enterprises, such as Wahaha, Wang Laoji, Taizi Milk, Wandashan, New Hope and many other first-line brands.
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